New theory of autism development
A quick note about an interesting new theory on the development of autism and schizophrenia through genetic competition. Bernard Crespi and Christopher Badcock suggest that competition between mother’s genes, with a greater disposition toward PSDs (psychotic spectrum disorders) and father’s genes with a bias towards ASDs (Autism spectrum disorders), seems likely to explain the rise of either autism and schizophrenia.
More simply put, if environmental or other genetic effects help create bias towards paternal genes you will see more characteristics in a child along the ASD side of the spectrum. The opposite occurs with maternal bias, evidenced in more PSD characteristics. So if a fetus is maternally affected, say by limiting in utero nutrition (to better improve the survival of many offspring) then movement to the PSD side is more likely.
The wide variety of affects that could cause paternal or maternal bias is huge so it would be difficult to isolate what is the likely cause or cluster of causes of a particular disorder in a child or adult.
The entire page is worth a read, at minimum given the myriad of cause issues related to schizophrenia and autism.
Very interestingly, inside the same paper there’s a paragraph about infectious agents causing schizophrenia - something I’d not heard of before. Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that matures in cats, makes cats owners statistically more likely to develop the disorder.
Thanks to a link in the Edge newsletter and the NY Times for some solid paraphrasing.
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